


You, Me, and the Glass Between Us

by Lollipoplou



Series: You, Me, and the Glass Between Us [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Angst, Betrayal, Drama & Romance, Fighting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Pre-Canon, Romance, Slow Burn, broganes, season 5
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-01-17 05:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lollipoplou/pseuds/Lollipoplou
Summary: No one expected Lotor's intervention. No one could have prepared them what it meant for their future. After a close-shave battle, the Paladins and their new allies now must form an uneasy alliance with Prince Lotor to push back against the Galra Empire. However, when the net closes in around our heroes, a decision must be made: one that could save or destroy Voltron forever.





	1. Prince Lotor

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! So I got inspired to write a Season 5/Klance fic, it being not so much a canon compliant, so more as a 'Hey! Wouldn't it be cool if *this* is how the season could go from this point?'. 
> 
> I know some fans weren't too happy with the writing quality of season 4, I won't lie, I see that myself. There were some rather poor/contradictory narrative decisions that I can only hope the writers will straighten out when Season 5 gets here.
> 
> In the meantime, why not follow this fic to tie you over until the next season does come along, and smashes this to pieces? :D
> 
> As this is my first time writing for the Voltron fandom, apologises if my characterisation is not quite right, or I mistake some world building aspect, please try not to be hypercritical. As Lance would say, "I'm just getting to get a feel for the stick."
> 
> If you wanna get in touch, I'm on tumblr @ lollipoplou 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy, and let's have some fun!

Voltron Legendary Defender - You, Me and the Glass Between Us.

‘I think it is time we had a discussion.’

Lotor’s words still rung in Keith’s ears, lingering like a bad aftertaste as he climbed out of the Galra fighter’s cockpit and leapt out onto the rebel captain’s ship, slipping into it’s airlock tunnel just before it locked onto Lotor’s docking station. His feet touched down when the artificial gravity engaged, and Keith nodded to the canine captain when the door hissed open to reveal him and Matt behind it.

‘Think he’ll come quietly?’ The captain sighed and drew his gun, prompting Keith to do the same with his knife as they approached the docking door. 

Matt gave a shrug, sweat droplets from the intense battle clinging to his forehead as he focused on unlocking the door from the outside. ‘He did save us. If he hadn’t arrived in time…’ He trailed off dubiously, glancing over to Keith, who pointedly ignored him. He didn’t need the grim reminder, not right now when it was so freshly branded into his memories. The battle had merged into a big, blurred mess; racing to secure the cannon, dropping comms with Voltron, flying to stop Haggar from blowing up the planet and Voltron. He had had barely time to breathe, soak it all in and reflect on how close he had come to losing everything. 

He had nearly lost everything.

‘I’m not taking any chances.’ Keith muttered, and tightened his grip around his Mamora blade when the doors slid open with a rush of air. 

The inside of the comet’s cockpit wasn’t so different from the cockpit’s of one of the Lions’; dark, mostly made up of matt metal until the engine activated and the UI systems lit up. Opposite them, Lotor sat poised on a pilot’s chair in all his regal glory. 

Had he not been aware of the devilish, venomous snake that lay beneath the alien’s purple skin, had he not been the enemy, in another life, Keith might have considered that there were those out there that would believe Lotor to be handsome; fawning over his sculptured jawline, prominent cheekbones and thick mane of white hair.

Prickling goosebumps rippled down Keith’s back as he gulped and stepped over the threshold, determined to keep his face fixed in a neutral expression. He failed, with a line drawing between his dark brows, when he saw the unnatural angles that which the prince’s limbs were bent at.

‘Your arms are broken.’ He blurted, and despite him being the one holding the knife, Lotor had the audacity to roll his eyes at them.

‘Astute observation,’ He sarcastically drooled before raising to his feet, a good head than Keith to tower over him and held out his wrists. ‘Now, take me to your princess.’

* * *

 

Allura had deemed the bridge too risky to hold Lotor’s hearing, so everyone; the team, The Blade of Mamora, and the Rebels had all moved into the entrance chamber of the Castle, the same one they had used to host the Arusians’ party back on planet Arus. 

Lance sighed. It made his heart ache to realise how far they come from that point. Things hadn’t been so complicated back then. Allura hadn’t been in paladin armour, they hadn’t even known about the Galra prince that now knelt on the floor before them. And Keith—well…

 Where could Lance even begin with Keith?

‘That’s not what you’re here for right now,’ The sensible part of his brain reminded him. It did helpful things like that. ‘Concentrate on what’s happening now.’

Lance blinked, zoning back into the room to catch the last of Lotor’s explanation, which could be paraphrased into; Daddy labelled me a criminal to the Empire—Blah, blah—Everyone’s turned on me—Boohoo—I have one part of the comet ship, my back-stabbing generals have the second.

‘And where is the comet itself being kept?’ Allura questioned, stood glaring at the head of chamber, Shiro, ever the white knight, to her right and Coran to her left. Hunk, Pidge and Lance himself fell in line to the right, whilst the Blades and Rebels completed the arrowhead formation on the left.

‘It was admittedly lost during my escape when my father launched his assault against me. It now resides in his hands.’ Lotor answered, his startling white hair shimmering in waves down his back with every movement. Perhaps when Lance got the chance, he’d be able to add ‘shampoo and conditioner brands’ to the list of interrogation questions before the real gritty stuff started; and from the way Kolivan and the other Blades were eyeing up Lotor, it didn’t seem like anyone would be waiting long.

There was a groan from said Blades, and one adjacent to Keith (as much as Lance appreciated the form fitting Mamora suit, he would rather it be replaced with his red paladin armour any day.) with four arms stepped forward. ‘His value is worthless. If the prince cannot be used as a hostage, then we should torture him for information. Make him feel the pain of every planet, every life the Galra has brought suffering to!’ His deep, reverberating voice boomed and his fellow Blades, bar Keith and Kolivan, roared around him in agreement. 

Allura waved a hand for silence, and motioned for the Blade to take Lotor back to his cell so that the paladins could discuss in privacy. Once everyone had left, including Keith and Matt with the rest of the rebels, the talk began again.

Hunk wrapped his arms around himself. ‘We aren’t going to torture him, are we? That’s like, what the Galra do.’ He quivered, shaking like a leaf. 

Allura’s mouth was set into a hard line. ‘Well, I say that we throw Lotor to the Blade. Let the Blade pick him apart for every scrap of information we can get.’ She argued, and Lance’s gaze wandered outside where Lotor’s comet ship could be seen parked alongside the others. The comet ship…Lotor’s was only one part of it.

‘Guys, you’re all forgetting the most important thing Lotor said.’ Lance pointed out.

‘What’s that?’ Shiro asked with a raised brow.

‘Lotor’s generals still have the second piece of the comet ship, and they aren’t going to be running back to the Empire anytime soon without their bargaining chip back in, which means—’ Lance explained, pausing to give a moment for thought. 

‘Which means that their comet ship is still up for grabs.’ Pidge finished with a gasp, her lips curling into an impish grin at the thought.

‘Of course! If we could use Lotor as bait, we could lure them to us and take the ship for our own.’ Allura delighted with a clap of her hands.

‘Uh, um—okay, only problem is, that ship is way too slippery. We saw the way it moved back at that Galra outpost. It’s gonna be impossible to capture it without scratching the paintwork.’ Hunk remarked and Shiro folded his arms.

‘We’d have to get them to land and out of the ship before using the Castle’s tractor beam.’ He strategised.

‘The real question is, how do we alert Lotor’s generals to his location, but not the Galra?’ Coran asked with a twirl of his carrot-orange moustache.

‘Maybe Lotor could tell us.’ Lance distantly proposed, and winced at the resounding “WHAT?!”

‘You want to ask for Lotor’s advise, our enemy?’ Allura all but shrieked, and Lance dug his finger into his ear to check it was still ringing. 

‘Hey! Lotor is the one who recruited them, ego, he should know the most about them, right?’ He laid down. ‘If anyone is gonna know how to draw them out, it’s gonna be him.’

‘I dunno Lance. Yeah— I know “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”, but this is _Lotor,_ the guy who nearly blew us up on that gas planet.’ Hunk emphasised around chewing his bottom lip.

‘Yeah. We can’t trust that he’ll cooperate with us.’ Pidge nodded, and Lance turned to Shiro with wide eyes. 

‘Shiro, please. Just let me try.’

Moments passed with all eyes on Shiro, before the Black Paladin gave Lance a single, curt nod. ‘Do it.’

Lance gave a grateful smile before he turned around and jogged for the Castle dungeons.

* * *

 When it had came to who would take first watch of Lotor, Keith had been the first to volunteer. Just the mere sight of Lotor walking through the Castle corridors, even handcuffed, even surrounded by lethal Blade members, set his teeth on edge. This was his home—team Voltron’s home, their stronghold. 

The last time an enemy Galra had entered it, Lance had almost died and Sendak had nearly taken the ship, all the lions and him and Shiro prisoner; it was a day that Keith both looked back on with equal measures of guilt and fondness. Guilt, over his inability to recognise the Galra threat, allowing himself and Allura to be locked outside the Castle, all but helpless. Fondly, because that had been the day he had felt a real connection with Lance for the first time; their bonding moment. 

Lance may be in denial about it, but Keith could never forget the soft light that had winked in Lance’s blue eyes as their gazes met; how electricity tingled from their intertwined hands, running down Keith’s arm straight to his heart to make it race; when Lance slumped against him unconscious, and Keith had gathered him into his arms and carried him to the cryo-pod; how his dark curls had nestled in the crook of Keith’s neck, hot, deep breaths splaying against his pale skin there.

Keith tapped his index against his forearm. 

It had been a bittersweet day, just like this one.

‘Tell me,’ Lotor’s clear voice called out from behind the light-blue electric forcefield that acted as the cell’s bars. ‘how is it that I know you to be a paladin of Voltron, yet you wear the Blade of Mamora’s colours?’

‘I’m not a paladin anymore.’ Keith bit back, and glared daggers when mock-sympathy softened the prince’s face.

‘It’s a terrible thing. I to, know what it is like to be abandoned by one’s team.’

Keith straightened up, hand wrapping back around to unsheathe his knife, when the Blade who’d been assigned guard with him, grabbed his arm. ‘Patience. You will get to take your turn when Princess Allura turns him over to us.’ 

Lotor let out a thoughtful, almost amused, hum before the cell block door’s slid open. Keith froze when he saw Lance there alone, a determined set expression on his face. What was he doing here?

Lance’s sights fixed on the Blade. ‘I’ve got the green light from Shiro to talk to the prisoner,’ He raised a fine brow when the Blade didn’t move. ‘ _Alone,_ ’

The Blade stayed still for a second longer, before he gave a huff and breezed past for the door. Keith’s palms broke into a fresh sweat when Lance scrutinised him. ‘Need to clean your ears out Keith?’

‘I’m not leaving.’ Keith stated as a fact with a cross of his arms, an urge tempting him to pull his lips back over his teeth at the way Lotor’s leering eye ran up and down Lance.

Lance’s eyes narrowed for a second before he rolled them. ‘Whatever,’ He relented and pushed past, shoulder barging into Keith’s to stand front and centre to Lotor’s cell; the prisoner inside sporting a pleased smirk. 

‘Lotor.’

‘Blue paladin, to what, do I owe this pleasure?’ Lotor smiled, and Keith watched how Lance shifted his weight from one foot to the other; one of his few nervous tells.

‘Don’t let the armour fool you. I’m actually the Red paladin. The name’s Lance.’

Lotor’s smirk curled at the corners. ‘Well, _Lance_ , is it my time to die?’

Lance shook his head, and Keith strangled the impulse to pull him back away when he took a step closer to the forcefield, Lotor mirroring the action.

‘We’re up for giving you a chance at an alliance, if you can prove that we can trust you.’

‘Oh?’ Lotor mused whilst Keith blinked at the back of Lance’s head in shock. What?

‘We want your help to lure out your generals in a way that won’t tip off the Galra Empire.’ Lance continued.

‘You mean, you want to use me as bait so that you can take the second comet ship for your own, without publicly broadcasting your plan.’ Lotor corrected with an airy laugh, and Lance’s jaw opened and closed wordlessly.

‘I mean—that’s _one_ way to put it if we’ve being technical.’

‘I accept.’ Lotor announced, and it was Keith’s jaw that fell open this time.

‘What?!,’ He hissed, glancing between the equally stunned Lance and the smiling prince. There’s—there’s no way it could be that easy. ‘You do know what you’re agreeing to?’

‘Quite. I am agreeing to a plan that will prevent my father from procuring yet another piece of the trans-dimensional comet. Something, I assure you, I have no desire to see.’ Lotor cooly replied.

‘Uh—okay, great. Is there like, a secret comm frequency that we can use or?’ Lance asked, and Lotor shook his head.

‘My generals will more than likely be searching my safe houses. I expect they believe me to cower away to lick my wounds. Tell your princess that I would be willing to provide a list of the locations they will be certain to look into first.’ 

Keith took a step forward, hands balled into tight fists. ‘And you expect us to let you walk if we say yes?’

‘I was going to request that I merely be allowed out of this cell every few vargas, but I am more than open to suggestions.’ Lotor rumbled, and Keith’s boots scuffed forward when there was a touch on his shoulder. Lance.

‘I’ll pass on the message.’ Lance confirmed, shooting Keith a look before he spun on his heel and strode out of the door. Keith shot Lotor a final glare for good measure, _really_ not liking how sickly smug the Galra looked as he to turned to follow after Lance, the hair’s on the back of his neck prickling where he was positive Lotor was staring after him.

* * *

 Their footsteps echoed eerily off the high ceiling hallways as Keith walked alongside Lance in silence, the former stubbornly refusing to meet the frequent side-eye peeks that Keith sent him. Keith’s throat felt as though a ballon had inflated inside it, making the inside his mouth dry. He desperately wanted to break the bad air that hovered between them, the silence that stretched on and on seemingly without an end was maddening. Was Lance actually going to ignore him?

Keith hadn’t realised that he’d said the thought aloud until it was too late, and Lance responded with a sharp hiss. ‘Oh, that’s rich coming from you.’

‘Is this about me leaving with the Blade of Mamora? I thought we were all past that?’ Keith pressed, silently relieved that they were speaking again, even if it wasn’t now he wanted to.

Lance stared at him blankly, before he shook his head. ‘You don’t have a clue, do you?’

Keith bristled when they rounded the corner and the door to the bridge came into sight. ‘Look, I’ve already explained myself once. Shiro’s back in the Black lion, like he should be. You get to keep a lion, like you were worried about. I don’t see the issue here! With the Blade, I can be useful—’

‘Yeah, but are you happy Keith?,’ Lance cut off, his blue, blue eyes unreadable. ‘Look me in the eye, and tell me that you’re happier with the Blade of Mamora than you were with us.’

Keith tried, he did. But no words came to him, his tongue too thick, too stupid to figure out the tangled mess that was his thoughts. The pause drew out for several painfully long seconds before Lance shook his head again and took a step away from Keith, it taking everything Keith had not to reach for him and pull him back; keep him from slipping any further away from him.

‘Y’know, back then when we formed Voltron with Allura, I really thought that we were getting somewhere,’ Lance gave a bitter half laugh, ‘I guess that was just me though.’

‘Lance, wait—’

‘Keith, Kolivan has called for a de-briefing,’ A Blade who had emerged from the bridge’s doorway interrupted, marching for Keith and the corner he’d just come from. ‘We are to report to the ship immediately.

Keith turned back to Lance, but he was already gone, walking for the bridge and passing the Blade in the progress. Keith seriously debated going after him and risking Kolivan’s wrath, but his decision was made for him when the Blade grabbed him by the hood and began to drag him away.

And just like that, Lance, and Keith’s opportunity with him, were gone.

* * *

 Everyone was back in the same places as they had been before, making it seem to Lance as though a recess had never been called in the first place. Well, actually, that was lie. The Rebels, had taken their leave when their captain had received an alert about a small Galra fleet attempting to take back one of the newly captured outposts. 

From the opposite side of the room, Lance could feel Keith’s intense violet stare on him, demanding his attention, but Lance stubbornly kept it on Lotor before Allura. He was not in the mood to be dealing with that drama right now. 

‘And everything that Lance has told me is true?’ Allura demanded, and Lotor gave a simple nod in response.

‘Yeah, okay, what’s the catch?’ Pidge sniped, a line of suspicion drawn between her thick brows.

‘Your protection. This plan deals one rock to two zulas. I assist in preventing the second part of my comet ship from falling into the Empire’s hands, and as your prisoner, I remain in a position that no Galra nor bounty hunter is able to get to me.’ Lotor evenly returned, his expression a practised one of diplomacy. 

There was a chorus of murmurs throughout the room, and Hunk leant into Lance’s ear. ‘I mean, he’s not wrong.’

‘So, just to be clear here. You are content to help us capture the second part of the comet, so long as we continue to keep you captive?’ Coran clarified, and Lotor bowed his head in confirmation.

‘Sounds too good to be true.’ Keith’s voice snapped.

Lotor cocked his head, a devilish glint in his yellow eyes that Lance knew, that had it been aimed at him, it would of turned his bones to jello. ‘Doesn’t it just?’

‘Princess, yield Lotor’s custody to the Blade. We will have no issues extracting this list of safe houses he speaks of.’ Kolivan put forward.

Allura’s hand came to cup her chin as she thought, her steady gaze alternating between Shiro, Lotor and Kolivan before she gave her answer. ‘No. We are not Zarkon, and we will not follow his example.’

‘We have an accord then?’ Lotor smiled, and held up his hands to be released of their cuffs.

Allura shook her head. ‘No. I will allow you to be moved out of the cells, and into a proper room as a gesture of goodwill, but have no delusions about roaming the Castle freely.’

‘The time that you will be allowed, you will have someone to guard you at all times. I trust you don’t have a problem with that?’ Shiro added on, a raised eyebrow daring the prince to refuse.

‘Not one, Black paladin.’ Lotor smiled, and Allura nodded to Lance and Coran to take him away, concluding the hearing.

* * *

 ‘Shiro.’ Keith jogged to catch the man at the exit of the entrance chamber after everyone had dispensed from the chamber; Allura and Kolivan and the other Blades hanging back to speak privately, and Pidge and Hunk headed in the direction for the kitchen.

‘Keith, what’s up?’ Shiro asked, and Keith was taken aback by the nonchalance in his tone. Because, it wasn’t as though he’d nearly run his ship into a Galra command ship, and probably wouldn’t be here talking to him if it hadn’t been for Lotor (He was trying not to think about that part).

‘I, um—I was wondering if I could talk to you.’ Keith muttered, averting his stare when Shiro’s sharpened.

‘Is there something wrong?’

‘No! No, I just—I just wanna talk.’ Keith trailed off, and Shiro nodded and motioned him to follow him. The same old routine, almost as though they were back in the Garrison. The path they took was one Keith was intimate with, as it was one that led him back to his room.

Shiro held the door open for him, and Keith shivered when he stepped inside. The chilled air inside was stale, and a fine layer of dust had collected on the surfaces and on his red paladin armour, still sat in the same spot he had left it in the day he had left.

Whilst Shiro fiddled with getting the lights and heating back on, Keith beelined for his dresser and pulled out his pyjamas, that was namely his regular black t-shirt and a softer pair of long shorts.

‘Okay, talk to me.’ Shiro proclaimed as he propped himself up against the wall, right beside the hook where Keith’s jacket hung. 

Keith drew in a deep breath, and sighed it out as he stripped off his Mamora armour. ‘I…don’t know where to begin.’

‘Is this about the Blade of Mamora? If Kolivan’s giving you a hard time, I can step in and—’

‘No, it’s not that. I can handle the missions, I mean they’re hard, yeah, but nothing too—y’know.’ Keith put down, his voice muffled as he tugged his t-shirt over his head and then pulled on his shorts.

‘Then, what is it?’ Shiro prompted, and Keith’s stomach knotted itself twice over. He inhaled another breath to try to relax it.

‘When I decided to train with the Blade of Mamora, I was so sure that it was the right thing, for myself and the team. They were making progress on Lotor and, I thought that was what Voltron needed. I never wanted to replace you as the leader, Shiro, no matter how many people told me that I had to. You lead Voltron better than I ever could, and you belong with the Black lion on the team.’

‘Are you having doubts about being with the Blade?’

Keith pushed off the dresser and collapsed onto his bed, fiddling with his knife. ‘It’s different from being with the team. “Knowledge or death”, “Victory or death”, there’s no middle ground with them. It’s the mission, and only the mission, no matter who gets left behind.’

‘You don’t agree with it.’ Shiro guessed, and Keith gave a weak shrug. 

‘Some part of me, probably the Galra part, clicks with it. I get it. But I also can’t completely accept that that is the way things should be done. Coming back to the Castle hasn’t helped with that.’

‘Keith, if you need to, you can come home at anytime. You know that. If you need to take a step back to sort things out, you can. No one will hold it against you for it,’ Shiro insisted firmly, his smile soft with patience. ‘You have good instincts, listen to them. What is your gut, your heart telling you?’

Keith’s brows furrowed, and he closed his eyes, as though literally listening out for words.

‘It’s telling me not to trust Lotor.’ He said after a pause.

Shiro smirked despite himself. ‘Well, I think that’s a given.’ 

‘I mean, it’s _really_ telling me not to trust him. Like “Don’t even let him look at you, or Lance, or the team.”,’ Shiro said nothing about the elephant in that statement, and allowed Keith to go on, ‘I look at him, and every part of me says _no._ It makes me not want to leave the Castle,’

Keith blinked as the fog in his head finally cleared. ‘I don’t want to leave you guys. I have to be here, close, where I can protect you if I have to…But the Blade—’

 Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. ‘I will talk to Allura and Kolivan to get a work around, see if the Blade would be willing to stay on the Castle until we have more permanent arrangements for Lotor elsewhere.’

‘Thanks Shiro,’ Keith breathed, the world lifting off his shoulder along with Shiro’s hand. ‘I mean it, thank you.’

‘I know. But Keith, I’m not always going to be able to do this. You can’t stay on the fence forever, you’re going to have to make a decision,’ The door slid open and Shiro paused in the doorway, tapping the lights to plunge the bedroom into darkness, and cast a long shadow in. Keith curled up under the covers, screwing his eyes shut and stretching under his pillow to grasp his knife; his own deadly sharp security blanket.

‘When the time comes for that, make sure it’s one you know you won’t regret.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoohoo! First chapter done! Please let me know what you thought, did you like it? etc. Really stoked to join as a creator in the fandom, there are some superb artists and writers that I worship with their amazing content. 
> 
> I'm afraid I won't be able to put a date on when the next chapter will be up (I attend uni and have an ongoing Hetalia fic running on the side), but motivation is still high and I guarantee that your reviews and kudos will shorten the wait period :D


	2. Rekindle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! Second chapter for Keith's birthday! I would like to send out hugs and kisses to you lovely people who reviewed. You have no idea how happy your enthusiasm for the next chapter made me, so thank you so much.
> 
> Super hyped to get the plot rolling, so let's strap in and get right to it,
> 
> Enjoy!

It was dark, and Keith shivered. The darkness swallowed everything around him, and stretched on and on without end; so thick and suffocating that he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face. 

‘Hello?’ Keith croaked, his words coming out distorted and reverberated, as though his head were stuck inside a deep-bellied vase.

‘Where were you?’ Allura’s voice cut through the echoes, and Keith smacked a hand over his mouth when he turned to see the princess’ body laying atop of three others whose faces Keith sickeningly recognised; Pidge, Hunk and Coran; all bloody and beaten black, staring with unblinking, glassy eyes, blue lips, and limps that were bent at unnatural angles.

‘Where were you Keith? We needed you.’ Pidge’s mouth did not move, but Keith heard her inside his head.

‘We were meant to be family. We loved you, and you abandoned us.’ Coran joined the party, spitting undistllled venom that made Keith clamp his hands over his ears, screwing his eyes shut.

‘No, I—I didn’t—’ He panted, his heart beating in his throat. He—He couldn’t breathe. _He couldn’t breathe._ He didn’t do this. It wasn’t his fault, he—

An ear-splitting scream of agony pierced Keith through the heart, knocking the wind out of him. He knew that voice.

_No._

‘SHIRO?!’ Keith yelled, his bare feet tripping over themselves as he began to stumble for the direction he thought he’d heard the scream come from.

‘Yeah, forget about us. It’s not like we mean anything to you,’ Hunk’s growl rang out after Keith as he broke into a sprint, each frenzied bound pushing him further and further away from his dead team. ‘Leave us behind, it’s not something new to you.’

‘I didn’t want—’ Keith rasped, but the lump in his throat inflated twice it’s size to choke him when another shriek cried out, and Keith saw it’s source.

Shiro, his face swollen and bloodied, twisted into a ugly snarl as he advanced upon a limping Lance, clutching his side as he tried to back away; Shiro’s galra prosthetic alit and humming with lethal purple quintessence. 

Lance’s wild, blue eyes shot wide when they latched onto Keith’s. ‘ _KEITH!_ _Keith_ , _please!_ He’s going to kill me!’ He shrieked, cracking with desperation, and Shiro lunged for his throat.

Keith didn’t know what happened, nor realised he had even moved until he was in front of Shiro, his Mamora blade sprouting out of the older man’s back. Time froze, and the darkness swarm.

He couldn’t breathe.

‘Keith.’ Shiro spluttered, the name coming out warped as crimson blood bubbled inside his mouth, and burst free, splattering against Keith’s pale cheek. 

Keith’s limbs refused to move, his lungs burnt for air he couldn’t inhale as the man he thought as his brother, dropped dead at his feet; the light gone from his eyes to adopt the same vacant glaze that had haunted the rest of the team’s.

He was distantly aware of the fat, wet tears that broke free down his face when his legs gave out, his knees harshly colliding with the wet ground, slowly being drenched in Shiro’s expanding pool of blood. Everything was a blurred mess of black, and white, and red. His heart felt as though it were caving in on itself, a small, withering part of it still protesting, hysterically screaming, ‘No. No, no! Shiro isn’t dead! He’s not dead!’ because Shiro _couldn’t_ be dead.

Except he was, and Keith had been the one that killed him.

A high, drawn-out whine rose from inside Keith’s crushed chest, like that of a wounded animal, as he gasped and panted, dry-heaving with nothing in his stomach to throw up. He crumpled forward, clenching his jaw so hard that his teeth must of surely shattered, and slammed his head against the ground. He did it again, and again with bruising force; anything, _anything_ to take him away from this place.

A touch on his shoulder.

_Lance._

Keith hiccuped a sob, drawing himself up to turn into the warmth, when all the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. His mouth opening and closing wordlessly, Keith looked down to where his Mamora blade was impaled between his ribs, and then back up to Lance who held the handle, face so emotionless that he might as well have been a doll.

‘Are you happy now, Keith?’

‘Lance.’ Keith wheezed, the pain all-consuming as large, black spots swallowed up his vision, and every second was a war to stay conscious.

‘Vrepit sa.’ Lance smiled, and yanked the blade out. Keith collapsed to the ground, soaking in Shiro’s cooling blood, his eyes rolling back into his head as another set of feet—boots approached to stand beside Lance; a set of boots that Keith would of recognised belonging to—

* * *

 ‘Lotor!’ Keith gasped as he bolted upright drenched in a cold sweat. His t-shirt and bedsheets were clammy stuck to his skin, and Keith peeled them off before he swung his feet over the edge of his bed, and dropped his head into his hands. Forcing in and out deep, even breaths to slow his racing heart.

‘Quiznak.’ He hissed and pushed himself to his feet, ripping off his sodden t-shirt to head into his room’s ensuite when there was a loud static pop.

‘Good morrow Paladins! Hope you slept well, because we’ve all a big day ahead of us, and it begins in the dining room. See you all down there in one varga!’

Keith sighed, and put the water on full blast when he stepped under the shower head, taking a moment to just savour the steaming-hot spray drum against the nape of his neck.

Today, was a new day. 

* * *

 Lance couldn’t bring himself to care about the disapproving looks Hunk shot him as he sluggishly pushed his food goo around his plate at breakfast. He knew he should, but with the dark bags under his eyes, and Keith—with his stupid, brooding face, and his stupid, brooding arms crossed—opposite him, Lance was having trouble finding anything to pick up his low mood. Even Allura’s perfect—well, _everything_ , wasn’t working.

‘Okay Paladins, we have our next mission. Prince Lotor has given us the location of the safe house he suspects that his wayward generals will target within the next twenty vargas. It’s on a small inhibited planet that is inaccessible by any known warping technology.’ Coran announced as he stepped into the kitchen and positioned himself at the head of the table.

‘How are we supposed to get there if we can’t warp?’ Pidge asked with a raised brow, her hovering fingers paused from tapping at her keyboard.

‘I’m glad you asked number five! We will be going undercover, not as the legendary paladins of Voltron, but as humble space-travellers travelling along the intergalactic highway.’ Coran returned with a snap of his fingers.

Lance folded his arms behind his head and kicked his feet up to balance his chair on the equivalent of two legs. ‘Intergalactic highway? Like, a literal highway, only in space and with ships?’

Shiro grabbed his chair and gave it a quick jerk back to make Lance overbalance and cry out before he rightened himself back on all fours. ‘Using the highway will allow us cut our travel time by  a third, and using three pods, we can avoid detection by the patrolling Galra.’

‘Yeah, but—that’s still like, fifteen vargas flying in a small pod.’ Hunk pointed out from across him, the mice began to squeak excitedly.

‘That’s right! We just have to think of it of a road trip!’ Allura smiled, and Lance’s stare switched over when Keith made a disagreeable noise.

‘You said that we’d be taking three pods?’

‘Well, I highly doubt that five paladins, three Blades of Mamora, one gorgeous man, and a galra prince would be able to fit inside two pods.’ Coran pipped, and everyone jumped with the ear-scratching squeal of Keith’s chair being pushed back.

‘You and Lotor are coming?!’

‘Oh, real nice _Keith,_ ’ Lance snarked, rolling his eyes when Keith glared at him. ‘It’s not like Coran hasn’t been on missions with us before. What did _you_ do whilst he bargained the teludav lens at the space-mall?’

‘You know that’s not what I meant!’

‘Lotor has to come with us to show us the way to his safe house. Without him, we have no idea where his generals with appear with the comet ship.’ Shiro rationalised steadily.

‘It is not as though Lotor will be able to do anything else besides that, not with all of us watching him,’ Allura reassured, though by the way Keith’s shoulders stay hunched, he wasn’t comforted. ‘So, I advise we quickly finish eating and head down to the pod hangar. Kolivan and another Blade are already waiting down there with Lotor, and the sooner we set off, the better.’

* * *

 Though he would never admit it, every part of Keith squirmed as he climbed behind the wheel and started the pod’s engine with a low hum; Hunk taking the co-pilot’s chair whilst Pidge and Lance made themselves comfy in the pod’s passenger cabin. He didn’t know if he’d be able to handle fifteen hours of silence with the guys, it was bad enough at breakfast. Pidge and Hunk weren’t necessarily distant nor upset with him the way Lance was, but there was this tentative awkwardness between them and him; like no one quite knew how to act around him anymore.

Shiro wasn’t dumb, he knew this as well, and had still insisted that Keith be put in with them. He thought that the prolonged torture would make for a good bonding experience…

Keith gripped the wheel tighter. Sometimes, he really wanted to punch him in his perfect teeth. 

After about half an hour of flying in silence, save for the soft beeps of Pidge’s tech and Hunk’s fingers drumming against the window, Lance cleared his throat obnoxiously loud and began to rifle through his jacket  pockets.

‘Alright, since we’ve gonna be flying for a while, I have just the thing to raise the roof of this party ship,’ He grinned and Keith’s brows furrowed when he pulled out—what looked to be—a data stick.

‘A data stick?,’ Hunk questioned as he twisted in his chair, confirming Keith’s suspicions. ‘What’s on that?’

‘After Coran dismissed us, I used Pidge’s laptop to download some of Earth’s greatest hits so we’d have some sweet beats for the road.’

‘You touched my stuff?!’ Pidge screeched.

Lance waved away a dismissive motion. ‘Yeah, yeah. Details, details. So, I am willing to plug this in, liven up this funeral, on the condition that Keith switches with me.’ 

 Keith scoffed with a roll of his eyes. Yeah right, he remembered the time that Lance had taken them for a joy-ride in the Blue Lion. There was no way that was happening again…

 But after another hour of maddening silence, Keith couldn’t take it anymore, feeling as though Lance’s eyes were drilling into the back of his head, and relented with huff.

* * *

  _‘Uh-huh, this my sh~,_

_All the girls stamp your feet like this!_

 

_Few times I’ve been around that track,_

_So it’s not just gonna_

_happen like that,_

 

_‘Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl,_

_I ain’t no hollaback girl!’_

 ‘Keith, can I please borrow your knife?,’ Pidge groaned, robotically thudding her head back against the metal cabin wall as Lance and Hunk bounced along to the obnoxious tune, singing along at the top of their lungs. 

_‘Ooh, this my sh~_

_this my sh~_

_Ooh, this my sh~_

_this my sh~’_

 ‘I must end my suffering.’

_‘I heard that you were talking sh~_

_And you didn’t think that I would hear it,_

 

_People hear you talkin’ like that,_

_gettin’ everybody fired up!’_

 ‘Only if you let me go first.’ Keith deadpanned back from under his jacket, lying sprawled out on the cabin’s bench in a failed attempt to get some sleep. 

  _‘So I’m ready to attack,_

_gonna lead the pack,_

_gonna get a touchdown,_

_gonna take you out!_

 

_That’s right,_

_put your pom-poms down,_

_gettin’ everyone fired up!’_

 ‘C’mon Pidge, you love it!,’ Lance cackled, smacking the wheel on beat, ‘Sing it with us! Hunk, my man, tell me what this is?!’

  _‘This sh~ is bananas!_

_B-an-an-as!_

‘I can’t hear you!’

  _THIS SH~ IS BANANAS!_

_B-AN-AN-AS!’_

 ‘Arghh! No! This is terrible music, you have terrible taste in music, and I will never, _ever_ sing along to any of this garbage!’ Pidge howled with a final stamp of her foot.

* * *

 A few minutes later…

  _‘I took a trip to the year three-thousand,_

_this song had gone multiple platinum,_

_everybody brought our seventh album,_

_it had outsold Kelly Clarkson!_

 

_I took a trip to the year three-thousand,_

_this song had gone multiple platinum,_

_everybody brought our seventh album,_

_seventh album,_

_seventh album.’_

 ‘You were my sister Pidge. You were supposed to destroy the garbage, not join it.’ Keith muttered as the whole ship thumped with the whiny, generic two-thousands’ boyband “song”, Hunk using the dashboard as a makeshift drum-kit whilst Pidge jumped up and down, and off the walls, chanting ‘Year three-thousand! Year three-thousand!’. 

  _‘He said I’ve been to the Year Three-thousand!_

_Not much has changed,_

_but they live underwater,_

 

_And your great, great,_

_great granddaughter,_

_is pretty fine~’_

‘You will give in Keith. Your nostalgia will be your undoing,’ Hunk grinned, lowering his voice to one deep enough to rival Zarkon’s. ‘Search your feelings, you know it to be true.’ 

‘Jokes on you, I didn’t have a childhood to be nostalgic about.’ Keith bat back, before wincing when he realised how that sounded. Oh…

‘Ha! If you think that’s going to stop ol’ Lancey Lance, then you’re dead wrong. I will seduce you with my radical tunes,’ Lance mischievously grinned, and pressed the button for the next track. ‘And I think I know just the song to do it with.’

Keith froze when he recognised the new song’s opening bars. 

Oh no. 

 ‘ _Never made it as a wiseman,_

_I can’t cut it as a poor man stealin’,_

 

_Tired livin’ like a blind man,_

_I’m sick of sight without_

_a sense of feelin’’_

 Stay strong. He was steel, he was titanium. He was—

  _‘And this is how_

_you remind me_

_of what I really am,_

 

_This is how_

_you remind me_

_of what I really am~’_

 Screwed.

* * *

 A few verses later…

  _‘This time I’m mistaken,_

_for handin’ you a heart_

_worth breakin’!_

 

_AND I’VE BEEN WRONG!_

_I’VE BEEN DOWN!_

_Been to the bottom of_

_every bottle,_

 

_These five words in my head,_

_scream “Are we having_

_fun yet”?!’_

‘Yeah Keith!’ Lance hollered, his passengers roaring when he amped up the volume to eardrum-destroying levels. ‘Aw yeah baby! We’re keeping this going all night!’

* * *

 ‘I wonder how the Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge are getting on.’ Coran mused as he looked up from the old Altean card game he was playing with Lotor; the prince securely handcuffed and seated in-between the two Blades. Shiro glanced over to Allura in the co-pilot seat when he pulled onto the intergalactic highway, that curiously reminded him of an old racing video game that his grandmother used to play; something about a red plumber and a road made of rainbows. 

‘Perhaps we should check in on the comms?’ Allura suggested, and Shiro nodded before he pushed the comms button. 

  _‘I LIKE BIG BUTTS_

_AND I CANNOT LIE!_

 

_YOU OTHER BROTHERS CAN’T DENY,_

_WHEN A GIRL WALKS IN_

_WITH A TITTIBTY WAIST,_

 

_AND A GREAT ROUND THING  
RIGHT IN YOUR FACE,_

_YOU GET STRUNG!—’_

Shiro had never punched something so hard, so fast. Aware of the blood rushing to his cheeks, he coughed hard, and locked his stare forward, attempting to ignore the stares of his passengers that seemingly bored into his soul.

‘They’re fine.’ He rasped.

* * *

 

Feet propped on the dash, shades on, tune game on another quizacking level. Oh yeah, life was good for Lance McClain as Keith slowed the pod to stop in front of the a red traffic light. The intergalactic highway was actually cooler than Lance had been expecting. It really was just like a regular highway that you’d find back on Earth, and flying along it took Lance back to the long drives he and his family would take into his hometown; all of them, spilt between his father’s family van and his mother’s vintage blue beetle; his brothers and sisters racing to scramble into the beetle because it had cool leather seats and decent air conditioning.

Long road trips with the family…

* * *

 ‘Hey,’ Keith asked, a line between his brows at the faraway look in Lance’s eye. ‘Are you okay?’

Lance sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. ‘Yeah, yeah I—Hey. Look’s like we have some admirers.’ He said, and nodded his head into the next ship over. 

When Keith turned, he saw a pair of purple-skinned, punk feline galras staring back. Their elongated fangs glinted when Keith returned their stare, and the pilot, with fur that seemingly stood on end and an eyepatch, provocatively reeved his engine with a roar.

‘Think they wanna race?’ Pidge asked, leaning far forward between the seats to ogle at the galra.

‘Pidge, they’re literally making it “Bring it” gestures. Of course they wanna race.’ Hunk scoffed, and Keith caught the competitive glint he’d seen in Lance’s eye many a time before.

‘What do you think? Should we bring it?’ He asked.

The corner’s of Lance’s mouth curled upwards into a cat-grin. ‘Dunno mullet, _can_ you?’

Keith plucked the dark shades off Lance and slid them on, before his foot nudged the acceleration, making the pod engine’s rumbles spike. ‘You know it.’ 

‘Ha ha yeah! This is awesome!,’ Lance laughed, and began to fiddle with the music. ‘I have just the song for a race!’

‘Uh—no, no no. No, Keith, we can’t race in this thing. It— it doesn’t have any seat belts!’ Hunk desperately wailed as he scrambled to find something solid to cling onto.

‘Good thing I have a co-pilot, engineer and tech genius onboard then, huh?’ Keith smirked, side-eyeing Lance when he pressed the play button, and a energetic, synthesised bass track filled the pod.

  _‘Shoot your body_

_into the moonlight,_

_even if I_

_try to cancel’_

 

_Oh, the pictures_

_into the mind_

_There’s a flashing in my eyes,’_

 ‘Really Lance? Initial D Eurobeat?’ Pidge questioned as she began stuffing her equipment back into her rucksack.

‘It’s too good to pass up.’ Lance winked, and switched back to Keith. ‘Leave those coons in the dust.’

As the traffic light counted down, the rival galra’s ship and the pod’s engine snarled like beasts, straining against the brakes to be unleashed. Keith’s vision narrowed, seeing past the taunting galra racers and focusing solely on the road. He felt the engine’s vibrations through the wheel and handbrake, breathed with in sync with it. This was his ship, and he was it’s pilot. He was in control, and he would win.

Three!

Two! 

One!

_GO!_

Keith shoved the handbrake down and the pod shot forward; Lance howling to mirror the same exhilaration that coursed through Keith whilst in the back, Hunk and Pidge screamed as they rattled around in the cabin. His foot pushing the peddle to the metal, Keith weaved in and out between of the ships at whistling speed, flashing his competitors a smug smirk when they pulled ahead. The pod broke through into a stretch of empty road that curved into a sharp arc ahead.

‘Uh, Keith? Maybe wanna start slowing down now so we don’t—y’know, spin out?’ Lance urged, and Keith raised an eyebrow at him over his shades, the pod hurtling toward the turn fast; the music pounded through him like a pulse, encouraging him to push harder, faster.

‘When you are going to learn to trust me?’ He sniggered and slammed the clutch, flicked the wheel and yanked back the hand brake. The thrusters exploded, and Keith floored the acceleration, releasing the clutch and handbrake, and stomped on the throttle to swing the pod into a wide drift.

_‘Deja vu!’_

‘KKEEEIITTTHH!!!,’ Hunk screeched as they rode the drift like a surfer rode his wave, before pulling out of the turn to straighten out. ‘Urgh—oh god, I’m gonna be sick.’

But Keith could hardly hear him over the music that was Lance’s laughter; so unadulteratedly free and wild, and _honest_ , that Keith felt his heart race with the knowledge that he was the cause of it. He stared, in a transfixed suspended second, at the gleaming flash of white teeth against flawless dark skin, the shimmering light of Lance’s blue, blue eyes. Had—had they always been that blue?

‘Keith!,’ Pidge’s voice cried, snapping Keith out of his trance. ‘Crossroad, twelve o’clock!’

‘Floor it! We can cut them off!’ Lance cheered and Keith grinned as he did just that, his body pinned to his seat as he kicked the engine up into the next gear.

‘No, no, no, no, no!,’ Hunk yelped, crawling at Keith’s chair as they raced on ahead, his eyes wide at the incoming ships on the crossroad’s flank that would surely crash into them. ‘I’m too young to die!’

Keith’s knuckles were white on the wheel as they sped, gut churning, a quick glance to his side to see that Lance held his breath with him. Horns blared, brakes screeched, and the pod cleared the intersection, skimming a large cargo ship so close that Keith could of sworn he had felt it himself. 

‘YEAH! That—was—unbelievable! Keith, that was— Oh man!’ Lance stammered as Keith decelerated back down to a reasonable speed, the Cuban boy so pumped that he couldn’t get his words out with his face wholly lit up like the sun. Keith prayed that Lance would take his flushed cheeks for the adrenaline-rush from the race when he shrugged.

There was a groan and Keith and Lance looked back to wince when they saw the trashed state of the cabin, Hunk spread-eagle on the floor.

‘I think I broke something.’ The yellow paladin groaned.

‘Yeah. Me.’ Pidge’s muffled voice came from under him, and Keith and Lance exchanged a look before they burst into uncontrollable laughter. The sweet moment popped too soon when there was a loud _bang!_ that sounded as though it had came from engine.

Uh-oh.

‘Maybe, it was nothing?’ Lance weakly suggested, when there was another bang, and the faint smell of smoke began to trickle through the air vents.

‘No! No, that is it! We are pulling over, _right now_.’ Hunk demanded, and Keith didn’t argue, clicking on the indictor to pull into the outer lane, and flew into a station that resembled a mix between a gas station and a pitstop.

‘So, there’s a fun question,’ Pidge dug out her paladin helmet and held it out like it would sting her. ‘Who wants to be the one to tell Shiro?’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So quite a fun chapter for our best boys, I projected so much 2000's nostalgia music into this. Keith being a badass pilot, and his little moment with Lance is just the tip of the iceberg, I promise you ;)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter!


	3. The Best Tactician

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! I can only apologise for now long this took me to post. I've been distracted by my other stories, particularly one that I'm close to finishing, as well as uni work. But, nevertheless, there is it and I'm happy to get things moving again.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> (EDIT: Apologises for possible spam of updates, I've tried to upload this chapter multiple times)

Keith liked to think he had a thick skin, that there were a few things that ever truly got to him; he'd barely batted an eyelid when he'd been kicked from the Garrison, he'd beaten the trials of Mamora (he'd nearly died to them as well, but that was irrelevant). Keith was tough, he knew that. But whoever had said that sticks and stones could break your bones, but words could never hurt you, had clearly never met Shiro.

'What were you thinking Keith?'

Keith's eyes remained glued to the floor, and he shrugged with his arms crossed. After Hunk, who'd pulled the short straw of 'Not It!', had made the rather humiliating comm call to Shiro, Keith had flown the pod into the nearest fuelling station on the highway to wait for the others. Hunk had tried to repair as much as the engine's damage as possible, but time hadn't been on his side, with only five minutes passing before the second pod touched down, and a very angry Shiro and Allura had stormed down the ramp.

'Tell me, what exactly made you think that it was appropriate to initiate a rally race with another craft?' Allura demanded, and Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. Sure, she was royalty, but she wasn't that much older than him. She had no right to scold him like a child, as if she were his mother. 'You have acted completely irresponsibly, endangering the lives of the other paladins—'

'Allura, I've got this. Why don't you get the others and start seeing if this place has what we need.' Shiro pacified, nodding to the fuelling station's building that looked more akin to a huge department store Keith had seen in the Space Mall. Over by the other pods, Keith could see that Pidge, Hunk and Lance were receiving a similar—though likely not as harsh—lecture from Coran.

Allura titled her chin up, 'Very well. Come find me after you are finished.'

Shiro nodded in response and waited for her to disappear through the store's sliding doors, with Coran ushering the others to follow after, before he turned back to Keith.

'That you did was reckless, and I'm disappointed in you Keith. I know that you're better than this,', Keith gulped around the fat lump in his throat and kept his head bowed, jumping when Shiro clapped a hand on his shoulder. When he looked up, Keith's stomach flipped when he saw the soft smile on the man's face.

'That being said, I'm glad that you're bonding with the others. You sounded like you were having fun.'

Keith felt his cheeks flush and sheepishly nodded.

Shiro smiled at him and opened his mouth to say more, when he noticed how Kolivan was marching for them, the Blade, Iaruk and Lotor following behind; the latter wearing a hooded cloak to disguise his identity.

'It is time for your rotation.' The leader of the Blade rumbled with a slight motion to the Galra prince, and Keith fought the impulse to square his jaw. Great. Just great.

'Right.' He said with a curt nod, and Kolivan returned it before he gestured for Shiro to follow him. Shiro gave him a slight wink before he turned after Kolivan and they left for the entrance of the department store.

The tension could have been sliced with a luxite blade as Keith and Lotor sized each other, violet eyes narrowed at yellow.

Lotor was the first to break the silence by loudly clearing his throat, 'Would it be acceptable to follow our companions example? I so rarely had the chance to visit such establishments outside of my exile.'

'Lead the way.', Keith disdained.

The department store had a deceivingly large interior contrary to it's exterior; with the many departments being separated by shelves of product. In the back right of the store over by the escalator, Keith could spy Shiro, Allura and Coran browsing through the racks of cloaks in the clothing section; poor Coran being reduced to Allura's packing maul, with his ginger head barely visible over the mountain of cloaks furs.

'As I understand it, you were the Black Paladin of Voltron.' Lotor spoke up as they walked.

'Red. I was the Red Paladin. Shiro is the Black Paladin.' He corrected.

'And pray tell, why is that?' Lotor pressed, and Keith scowled.

'You know why. Lance is the Red Paladin now.' He snapped, mentally cringing at how defensive it came out, and Lotor noticed as well, raising a fair brow at him.

'Do you resent him for taking your lion?'

'What?! No!' Keith retorted.

'It would be completely understandable to be. He did after all, steal your rightfully place.'

'Lance didn't take anything from me, okay? _I_ gave up Red, _I_ walked away. That was _my_ choice!' Keith snarled as he turned on Lotor, lips pulled back over his teeth and fists shaking at his side.

Lotor's gaze was cool as he regarded him up and down, 'You gave up a Voltron Lion, your place, for Lance.', Keith's blood turned to lead at the knowing smirk that curled onto Lotor's lips; the same kind that a cat wore before they pounced on their cornered prey. 'You must truly care for him.'

His brain scrambled for an excuse to redirect the focus off his sunny, blue-eyed teammate, 'I care about all of them. I'd give my life for them.'

'I am well-aware.' Lotor tutted, and Keith felt as though he'd been struck, the memory of his almost-suicide paralysingly fresh in his mind.

When they rounded the corner in silence, Keith found his feet became heavier and heavier until he slowed to a stop in front of a stall, that when he raised his head to look at, made him smile. The colourful stall was stocked to the brim of The Voltron Show merchandise. There were flags, posters, and colossally over-the-top glow ups of the team in various poses.

Keith's heart did a somersault when his gaze fell on a pin-up of Lance dangling from a rope attached to Red, his long legs in the perfect splits. Blood rushed to his cheeks as a fresh wave of sinful fantasies involving an extremely flexible Lance, in his colour, in Red's cockpit flashed through his mind. Before it could go any further, Keith mentally slapped himself hard just as the stall's owner, a small squat alien with four arms, noticed his presence and totted over.

'Admiring the Red Paladin are we? Yes, yes, Lover-boy Lance is the most popular paladin after Shiro the hero.' The owner said, and Keith had never had to work so hard to not laugh.

'Yeah?' He smirked and stepped closer in curiosity when the owner bent down and set down a tray of colourful, paladin plushy dolls on the counter between them. The alien plucked up a Lance doll and handed it to Keith with a smile, the former-Red paladin stunned before he remembered his manners and pressed the right amount of GAC into the merchant's waiting hand.

'A pleasure doing business with you, young man.' The owner called to Keith after he nodded his thanks and moved away from the stall, cradling the doll in his palm before he absent-mindedly brought it up and pressed it to his lips.

The moment passed as quickly as it had came, and Keith's ear turned red when he realised how he must look. After a quick check to be sure no one had seen him, he carefully tucked his precious cargo into one of his pouches.

'There's time for that later,' He sighed to himself. The priority right now was to keep an eye—

Keith blinked before he spun on the spot with horror, mouth agape with a silent 'No.'

Where was Lotor?

* * *

Dark blue, foamy waves washing against soft white sands below a orange and pink sunset. Lance sighed as he traced his fingertips down the glossy surface of the postcard before replacing it back on the rack. He should have been prepared the sucker punch that was homesickness when he learnt that the department store had an Earth section, but that was the thing. Just because you anticipated the impact, didn't mean it hurt any less.

Lance moved away from the postcard rack to wander into an aisle that didn't make him want to cry: the electronics aisle. His feet came to a stop in front of the video game shelves, and Lance selected one whose box art jumped out at him. Despite it's eye-catching cover, the text was all in Galra, and Lance was busy scratching his head when the clerk popped up behind him out of nowhere.

'Are you gonna buy that?' He demanded, and in no way, did Lance release a shrill shriek, juggle, and almost drop the game. 'Well? Time's money, kid.'

'Uh,' Lance stuttered before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small pocket change of GAC he had saved up. He held it out to the clerk. 'If this enough?'

'It'll have to be.' The alien huffed as he snatched the money and spun on his heel, marching back to his counter to count it out.

'What a weirdo,' Lance muttered to himself and cracked open the case, hoping against hope that there was some kind of translated manual on how to play. To his disappointment, there was none inside, only a small microchip that he picked up and squinted at.

'What the heck am I supposed to do with this?'

'Allow me to demonstrate?' A smooth-as-butter voice asked, and Lance swore his soul jumped out of his body for the second time that day as he spun to come face to face with prince Lotor; the man raising an perfect white eyebrow from under his hood as he held out his hand to Lance. 'May I?'

Don't be intimidated, don't be intimidated, Lance chanted to himself as he gawked at the alien, fixated on the sharp line of his jaw and cheekbones. You could cut yourself on those, he thought before he realised that Lotor was still waiting on his answer.

Not trusting himself to say something stupid about how begrudgingly attractive he found him, Lance handed over the chip, and his mouth fell open when Lotor tapped it twice to have it project a miniature version of the Castle's star-map.

'Woah!'

'Do you know what this is?' Lotor asked, and Lance shrugged.

'I mean—I thought it was a game, but it looks like it's a mini map.'

Lotor gave a low, rumbled chuckle, 'Actually, you are correct in both instances. This is a tactical battle simulator, akin to that of the simulations used to train tacticians and strategists in the Galra army.'

'Oh, like a strategy game?' Lance simplified and Lotor nodded before he read the line of text that circled the edge of the hologram.

'Yes, and one of high-calibre at that.'

Lance grinned, 'Ha! I managed to beat Final Fantasy Tactics with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back. How hard can it be?'

Lotor touched the chip again to dismiss the hologram and dropped it back into Lance's open palm, 'Fairly, unless you are fluent in Galra.'

'Oh…'

'I would be more than happy to translate for you. It will give me a front row seat to see how you fare against the challenges that have had my father's generals stumped for decapheebs.' Lotor offered and Lance's brows furrowed as he stared at the tiny chip in his hand.

'Is it seriously that hard?'

'You have no idea.' Lotor sighed, and Lance cracked a wicked grin at him.

'Does that mean there's levels on here that not even you have beat?' He asked, eyes twinkling with a competitive glint that grew when Lotor nodded, 'Alright! Yeah, I'm game. And hey, if I think you're deliberately telling me things wrong, I'll set Pidge on you. She bites and has little grabby hands.'

As though to speak of the devil, at the bottom of the aisle, Pidge jogged into view and waved when she spotted them. It was time to go.

* * *

'What do you mean he disappeared?'

'Look, one second he was there. The next, he hasn't. I didn't see what happened.'

'But, like— _how?_ How can you lose the freaking prince of the Galra? Oh my god, what are we gonna do if Shiro finds out? I—I can't lie to space dad!'

'Hunk, quiet!' Keith hissed as he surged forward to smack his mouth over the Yellow Paladin's mouth, and peered around the side of the pod to sigh with relief that no one had heard them; Kolivan, Allura and Shiro continued to quietly converse with each other as Iaruk and Coran started up the pods' engines.

'Keith buddy, please don't ask me to lie to Shiro, I can't do that. I'm like a one of little pottery vases, I'm fragile to pressure!' Hunk whimpered when Keith took his hand away and fixed him with a look.

'Nothing is going to happen. Shiro isn't going to find out, just like how he's never going to find out that I got booted from the Garrison.'

Hunk gasped, 'You still haven't told him? Oh man, do me favour and shout a warning before that bomb drops. Pidge and Lance have told me horror stories about how he exploded at Slav.'

'No, no! He's not gonna find out, just like he's not gonna find out about this.' Keith exclaimed and turned too late when he saw Hunk's eyes turn to saucepans at what he saw behind him.

Oh no.

'Find out about what, Keith?' Shiro demanded, stood with his arms crossed as Keith pivoted to face him, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

'Uh, nothing. Nothing.' He mumbled, and felt his stomach drop into his feet when Shiro turned his 'Dad' look onto a trembling Hunk.

'Hunk, you wouldn't lie to me. What you were talking about?'

Hunk's face went red, and Keith was pretty sure he'd stopped breathing, almost as though he were scared that if he opened it his mouth to breath, he'd word-vomit the truth.

When his friend's face began to look more purple than red, Keith decided he had to step in before Hunk made himself pass out, 'Shiro, I—'

'Hey guys!' Lance's voice called out, and Keith's relief for the distraction soured instantly when he turned to see that it wasn't just Pidge approaching by Lance's side, but Lotor to. Realistically, he should been on his knees, grateful that Lotor hadn't decided to steal a pod and ditch them. But honestly, all Keith could seem to fixate on was the intimate familiarity that Lotor aired as he leant in to mutter in Lance's ear. A pinching flame curled up inside Keith's gut as whatever Lotor had said caused Lance to throw his head back with laughter.

'That should be you.' The green-eyed monster inside him growled, and Keith agreed with it.

Lance's smile widened when his blue gaze locked with Keith, and he quickened his pace, holding up what looked like a microchip, 'Keith! Aw man, you have gotta check out this game with me. It's some kinda Galra tactics sim. Pretty neat, right?'

'Uh—yeah, okay.' Keith said, and narrowed his eyes on Lotor as the prince cast a knowing smile over to them as he walked past and climbed up into the back of one of the pods. Lotor's boarding drew Shiro's attention, and he raised his voice for everyone's attention.

'Alright everyone, we still have about five vargas of flying ahead of us before we reach our destination, so let's waste no more time. Lance, Keith, you're with me, Kolivan and Lotor in pod one. Pidge, Hunk, Allura, you're with Coran and Iaruk. Let's move!'

More time with Lotor? This was not his day, Keith sighed to himself as he drug his feet up the ramp after Shiro, only to stumble and look over his shoulder to see Lance flash a smirk at him and wave his game.

Well, then again…it was five vargas of time with Lance in a cramped space, and how could that be so terrible?

* * *

Quite terrible, it turned out, when Lotor quizacking wouldn't shut up. Granted, Lance needed him to translate him the game's text, but that didn't mean it pissed Keith off any less. Beyond that, it wasn't like Lance needed his help. When he wasn't running his mouth, Lotor would just silently stare at Lance, with the same calculating, spine-crawling intensity that Keith had seen the Garrison's scientists stare at their experiments with.

The former Blue Paladin _flew_ through the game's levels. Don't get him wrong, Keith always knew that he had a special talent for strategy, but watching him as he commanded fleets, legions of ships, micro-managing every single detail of his sprawling empire as though it nothing, was on a whole other level.

Lance asked Keith to pitch in occasionally when he wanted him to watch a certain galaxy so he could focus on a more demanding one; though Keith had barely held it together, with five of his planets staging an uprising, and well on their way to forming a united front until Lance stepped back in and wiped them out. In truth, Keith found it more fun to just watch Lance play the game, awed at his flexibility find work arounds to increasingly challenging opponents. A personal highlight had been when during one space battle level, Keith had pointed out a stray flyer hovering in a flanking position with his finger. Lance had worn that smirk made Keith's heart race as he had gently gripped Keith's wrist and guided his pointing finger to a heavy-duty battleship.

'Chill samurai. If that ship wants to go for the flank, then it's gotta fly into my bomber's range. I got it covered, but thanks.'

'No—no problem.' Keith muttered, and was thankful for the pod's low lighting; although it wasn't low enough to catch the shit-eating grin that Shiro shot him over his shoulder from the pilot's seat.

Eventually, Lance made it to the level that, supposedly, not even Lotor had managed to beat, and by this time, everyone in the pod was invested in Lance's progress, with Shiro and Kolivan agreeing when Lance had asked them to be his general. From the moment Lance had hit the start button, the scenario appeared as though it were already over; the game giving Lance one-hundred ships to go up against one-thousand of his enemies, no deaths.

Lance had shouted at them to get to their stations, and ordered them to use a planet's moon as cover against the bombardment, but even then…

'We cannot stay like this, those enemy bombers are destroying the moon by the second.' Lotor cried, his fingers dancing across his controls to tighten the formation on his side.

'Kolivan, any word from our distress beckon?' Lance asked, his voice muffled by his intertwined fingers rested over his mouth whilst his blue eyes darted between the enemy ships and his own.

Kolivan shook his head, 'No. We are on our own.'

'Okay. Okay, okay okay,' Lance muttered to himself, and his laser-focused gaze flickered from the enemy's advancing line over to Keith, 'Keith, talk to me about the planet under us.'

'Its an ice-planet, completely covered in the hardest permafrost in the universe. There's a network of cave tunnels that go deep into it's core.' Keith reported.

'Can our ships survive entering it's atmosphere?'

Keith brought up the blueprints of their ships and compared them to his scan's statistics, 'Just about.'

'Shiro, hows morale looking?'

'One-hundred percentage. Victory or death for their commander.' Shiro grinned and Lance gave a curt nod.

'Then I want all our ships to dive for those caves.' He announced and was meet with looks of hesitation.

'What's to stop them from shooting our ships as soon as they make for the dive?' Kolivan questioned.

'Lotor, you told me that those flyers used a heat-seeking tracking system, yeah?'

'Yes,' Lotor replied, and his yellow eyes widened when a light went off, 'Oh! But of course!'

Lance's confident kilowatt grin widened, and Keith could of stared at it forever, 'You picking up what I'm putting down?'

'Yes! On entry, our ships—'

'Will dramatically heat up the surrounding space and create a smoke cloud on their trackers.' Lance finished beaming.

'They won't be able to get a lock-on to any of our ships. Lance, that's genius!' Keith laughed, and temporarily stopped breathing when a lovely rose flushed Lance's features and he ducked his head.

'They'll be firing blind, but that's a lot better than our odds before.' Shiro remarked, bringing them back to the room.

'Never tell me the odds!' Lance exclaimed, and then gave a small giggle, 'Man, I've always wanted to say that.'

Even Kolivan sported a rare smile as he tapped his controls and manoeuvred his ships into a nose-dive for the planet. Lance's ships safely plunged into the tunnels that were too small for the enemy ships to follow, but things took a turn for the worst when the enemy's heavy-duty battleship began charging up it's ion cannon.

'Lance, what do we do now?' Shiro asked, and looked at Lance with disbelief when he merely leant back in his seat with his arms folded behind his head.

'Now, we wait.' He winked.

Keith didn't understand why he was so relaxed. Their entire fleet was about to be flown apart, Lance would lose all of his progress!

'Lance! We gotta retreat—try and get as many of our ships out before—'

'No! Nobody move anything, that's an order!' Lance barked, his eyes burning into Keith's with such fire that Keith had to switch to the star-map, watching with dread as the ion cannon finished charging. It was over.

'Well Lance, you had an admirable run—' Lotor began, only to cut off by Lance holding up a finger to him, the Cuban's stare intently locked on the ion cannon.

'It's not over yet.' He stated, and then the ion cannon fired. It cut through the atmosphere's clouds, a deadly streak of purple destruction, aimed straight down to cleave the planet in half, when the tables flipped.

Keith watched with a slack jaw as the ion's laser reflected off the planet's permafrost, as cleanly as a beam of light reflected off a mirror, and obliterated the very cannon it had been fired from. The result was like a mini sun, and it's explosion wiped the entirety of the enemy's fleet. When the colossal fireball eventually dispersed, Lance's ships came trickling out of the ice planet's tunnels, all accounted for. He hadn't lost a single one.

The star map flashed green, the words "Vrepit Sa" appeared before Lance, before the map vanished all together; the flashing red light on the simulation's microchip gave a final _blip!_ and turned green, signifying it was complete. Everyone stared at it, still in awe of what just happened.

'Remarkable,' Lotor breathed, the only one who was not staring at the chip, but instead Lance, 'Absolutely remarkable.'

'You risked your entire fleet in that gambit. How did you know that the ion's charge would be reflected of the planet?' Kolivan asked intrigued, and Lance preened under the attention.

'I got the idea when Keith told me about the planet's surface being made of the hardest permafrost in the universe,' He revealed and ran his hand through his hair, 'Hey, seeing as no one's ever beaten that level, I guess I'm like, the greatest tactician in the universe now, huh mullet?'

'Yeah, yeah.' Keith smirked with a playful shove, and his chest felt swollen. Lance had proved himself to excel in strategy, beating something no one else ever had. The swell in Keith's chest was the same as the one he had felt that time when Lance had shot Lotor's general's throwing knife out of the air. It was one of overwhelming pride.

* * *

'I now see why you look at Lance so.' Lotor's voice cut through Keith's soft daydreams from gazing at Lance's sleeping face to make him scowl at the Galra. He was taking to get real sick of the purple bastard's persistent interest in his self-proclaimed rival.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Keith bit back, and glanced to the front of the pod to have his guts twist when he saw Shiro stiffen whilst looking out of the window. Fantastic, now they had an audience. Lotor leant forward, resting his arms on his knees.

'Come now. Intelligent, skilled, strong, and beautiful? All are attractive qualities in a potential mate. You desire him—or at least, deeply care for him.'

Under his blanket, Lance shifted onto his side so that he was toward Keith rather than on his back, 'Keith…' He sighed in his sleep, the breathlessness of it causing heat to pool in Keith's stomach as he mumbled it again, 'where you…Keith…'

The corner of Lotor's lip curled upwards, 'And it appears he cares for you. Blade, what are your thoughts on this?'

'It is not our place to intrude.' Kolivan lowly rumbled, and Keith gritted it his teeth, knuckles white as he gripped onto the edge of his seat.

'There's nothing between us.' He hissed through clenched teeth.

'Oh? Open season is it then?' Lotor purred, and Keith would have lunged for the prince's throat had it not been for Shiro's intervention.

'That's enough. Lance is asleep, as should you be.'

'I'm fine.' Keith huffed with a fold of his arms, but Shiro wasn't backing down.

'You're been awake for nearly twenty-four hours Keith. _Sleep_.' The Black Paladin demanded.

Keith relented with a grunt and grabbed one of the duffel bags that contained the furred cloaks that Allura had brought from the store. He scooted up his bench and positioned his make-shift pillow so that both Lance and Lotor were within his line of sight. Unlike Lance, he opted against a blanket (it'd just restrict his movements), and unsheathed his knife for good measure as he fidgeted for a moderately comfortable position.

His gut screamed at him against the idea of sleeping and lowering his guard in front of Lotor. He and Lance would be vulnerable in the back; if Lotor wanted to smash their heads against the wall, Shiro and Kolivan would be too slow to stop him from the front—

Keith narrowed his eyes. Wasn't the bag with Lance's armour in it too close to Lotor's foot? With his strength, Lotor wouldn't even have to try if he wanted to blunder Keith with it, daze him before grabbing his knife and then slitting his—

'Keith!' Shiro barked a final time, and Keith robotically forced himself to relax, close his eyes and deepen his breaths, in and out, in and out. In and…..

* * *

When Lance awoke up, the pod was freezing. He sniffed, clinging to that soft, warm haze of sleep for a moment longer before he sat up. Kolivan was eerily alert as ever behind the wheel, and beside him, Shiro was reclined back in the co-pilot's chair, his expression pinched even in sleep, letting out the odd sleepy murmur.

Lotor had adopted a similar position, though rather than reclined, he slept rigidly upright with his arms folded; the only indiction that he was actually asleep was the slight tilted bow of his chin, closed eyes and the steady rise and fall of his torso. Lance can't help but think how much younger Lotor looked in sleep; perhaps young enough to be around their age. Lance's smile turned shy when his gaze fell on Keith.

The raven-haired teen was curled up tight in on himself like a cat, a line between his scrunched brows, and a lazy line of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth to make for one of the most adorable sights Lance had ever seen. Oh, what he would have given for a camera right now.

'Paladin, are you awake?' Kolivan asked, and Lance folded up his blanket before carefully stepping between the many bags covering the pod's floor to crouch between the piloting seats. In front of them, Lance could see that they were approaching their destination; an small blue and white planet that was not unlike the ice planet in his game.

'That's where Lotor's safe house is?' He pointed to it and Kolivan nodded.

'Yes. I will be glad to have this mission done with.'

'Yeah, me to.' Lance agreed, and looked around the pod, briefly considering waking everyone up before dismissing the thought. No, let them sleep. They needed it while they could get it.

* * *

Keith jerked awake to a blast of sub-zero crisp air slapping him in the face. As he came to, blinking the fuzziness from his vision, he peered up at Shiro standing over him, suited up in his paladin armour under a billowing heavy cloak; behind him, blindingly brilliant white light poured in with the cutting wind.

The Black Paladin threw him the duffle bag he carried, and Keith wheezed under it's weight. Sitting it, he opened it and saw it was his Mamora armour inside along with a similar cloak to Shiro's, hemmed with white fur.

Shiro smiled, 'Welcome to Narnia.'


	4. Update! New Fic!

Hey everyone.

Here to let you know that my new Voltron Daemon AU, 'The Heart Wants', will actually be replacing this as my active Voltron fic. My reasoning behind the decision being it a classic case of when you plan bigger than you are actually able to write. And so I decided to essentially rewrite it as this fic. This fic will feature all of the same elements as my other fic, all the planned plot points and bunnies that I wanted for that fic included. I've just condensed it, cut out the fat, and now you'll be getting long, fast-paced, reasonable amount of chapters. I consider this to be of the benefit of both you and I.

**The new fic is called 'The Heart Wants', and it is a action/adventure, Voltron Daemon AU. Appreciate all the responses to this fic, and I hope you all join me with the new one. Thank you so much! :D**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again, thank you for reading, and as always,
> 
> Until next time folks!


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